CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Hurlie Brown has been a defensive coach for 20 years. The Miami Hurricanes think he's ready to move to the other side of the football.

The Hurricanes announced the hiring of Brown as their running backs coach on Sunday. Brown is replacing Terry Richardson, who left the Hurricanes last week for a job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

At Miami, Brown will get to work with, among others, sophomore-to-be Duke Johnson, one of the nation's top backs this past season.

Brown has been Miami's senior football operations coordinator, working with community outreach and recruiting matters. He was a standout safety for the Hurricanes from 1988 through 1991, helping the school win two national championships.

Brown was chosen from a pool of finalists that included three South Florida high school coaches, Telly Lockette, Donnell Bennett and Roger Harriott.

Brown's coaching career started as a graduate assistant at Miami in 1992. He's worked for two Florida high school programs, then was the defensive backs coach at Florida International from 2001 through 2006 and worked with the secondary at Louisiana-Lafayette from 2006 through 2010.

He returned to Miami in 2011. As a player with the Hurricanes, he went to two Orange Bowls, one Cotton Bowl and one Sugar Bowl. He then was signed as a free agent by two NFL clubs before spending several seasons in the Canadian Football League.